Co Louth

I woke before the alarm and got up at 03.40 and Tom was not far behind me.
We very quickly got ready and left the marina at 04.10 in the dark and without a puff of wind.

I contacted Dublin Port for permission to cross the shipping lanes but I think that I must have woken them as they were a bit cranky.
We headed north towards Howth Head leaving it about two miles to port as we had breakfast 'on the go'.

Shortly afterwards it began to get bright and a bit of a breeze began to come up however we reached Lambay Island at 07.00 before it was worth hoisting sail and turning off the engine.
We were soon sailing on a close reach at 5.5 knots which later increased to over 6 knots when we put more distance between us and the coast.

Tom was very impressed with the speed of Eureka.
It was great to have a good wind as we headed north past Drogheda.
We needed to eat up the miles as we had to be entering Carlingford Lough by 16.00 at the latest due to the strong tides at the entrance.

We made great time and had a comfortable fast sail up the Irish Sea reaching the mouth of Carlingford Lough at 13.16.
When we entered the lough the tide was adding 2.5 knts. to our speed over ground as we flew past the buoys which due to the strength of the tide are mounted on boat shaped hulls.
We furled the genny on the way in to give us better visibility but the entrance was not as difficult as it looked on the chart.

We had a nice sail up the lough passing first the village of Carlingford with its marina on the southern side. Then Rostrevor on the northern side where Mary McAleese is from, before reaching the town of Warrenpoint.

We had problems contacting the port on the vhf and it was only when we were close that they picked up signal.
For some reason they would only give us permission for one night instead of the two we had asked for.

We were berthing on the visitors pontoon next to the main port and as we came alongside, Tom jumped off a few seconds early, just before we came to a complete stop.
Because of this he stumbled backwards as he landed and couldn't stop himself from falling off the far side of the pontoon.

Luckily he was still wearing his lifejacket which inflated and fair dues to him, he never left go of the line and had the presence of mind to wrap it around a cleat which was within reach before thinking of saving himself.

As it was the amidships line, Eureka was now not going anywhere and I was able to jump off within seconds of the incident and help pull him back onto dry land.

My friend Ger had been waiting for us at the town pier but we had tied up at the town dock, a similar name but a different location.
She was soon down to us as Tom changed and then instead of whatever we planned to do, it was back to Ger's house for a shower and to wash and dry the clothes.
Except for a bruise, probable got when being dragged out by me, he was none the worse for his experience.

The three of us later went out for dinner and tired after all the fresh air, Tom and I headed back to Eureka for a good nights sleep.Read more